Once a man sees the message of the cross, he has an entirely
new view of everything.
He is not just
trying to live a good life now; not just trying not to do harm; not trying to
live just on the edge of the law—not wanting to be prosecuted, but going as far
as he safely can.
That is all
finished.
He is a new man.
He has been bought with a price, he is a son
of God.
He is being prepared for
him.
He has a new motive.
To sin now means that he is wounding love, he
is not breaking a law.
He is wounding
the love of the one who gave himself for him.
He says, I cannot do it.
I have
been bought with a price.
I have no
right to do it, I am not my own.
I belong
to him.
I am a slave of Christ as I used
to be the slave of the devil and of sin.
I have no right to, and I cannot do it.
He has a new conception of sin, he has new motives for living a holy
life, and thank God, over and above all, he has got new power whereby to do it.
For the Christ of God died not only that we might be forgiven,
but that we might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and his power. He teaches us how to live, and he also
teaches us how to suffer. Because we
live in a world of suffering and we need to be taught how to suffer, he teaches
us how to suffer. The cross teaches us
how to suffer, not only how to live morally and ethically, but how to suffer, “The
slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”.
They come to us all: misunderstanding, people misunderstanding us,
injustices done to us, the failure of trusted friends, people in whom we
reposed every confidence letting us down, disappointments, loneliness, physical
pain. How do you stand up to those
things? These are the things that come
to all of us, how do we meet them, how do we live? This is the way:
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not
only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious
thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For
what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if
when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the
sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered
for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He
committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled,
he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but
continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins
in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By
his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now
returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:18–25)
There is the only way, the cross—misunderstanding,
injustice, treachery of friends, the loneliness, even his disciples forsaking
him and fleeing from him….
And so it is, that no experience can ever fall to your lot
but that he has gone through it. The treachery,
the misunderstanding, the abuse, the injustice, the loneliness, the agony, the
sweat:
In every pang that rends the heart,
The Man of Sorrows had a part.
Yes, in the light of the fact that he has been made in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin”, he is able to succor us.
--D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Cross
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